THE MAN who correctly guessed the name of Kate and William’s third child, Prince Louis, is bringing his A game to predictions for Meghan and Harry’s firstborn. Nick Stripe says he is confident that if Baby Sussex is a girl she will be called Alice, but if it’s a little prince he is torn between Arthur and Albert. As head of life events at the Office for National Statistics, Nick knows more than most about why people choose certain names for their children. Each year the ONS publishes a list of the country’s most popular names and Nick is always fascinated by the risers and fallers. It is well known that the Royals’ choice of names for newborns normally leads to a wave of copycats, so he is taking a close interest in the imminent birth of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s baby.

Nick says: “I suspect they will go for a reasonably traditional one. The bookies seem to think a baby girl is on the way, and so my guess is Alice. Riding high across the country, Alice currently occupies 17th place in the girls’ chart.

“It was the name of Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, and that of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the third child of QueenVictoria and PrinceAlbert.”

Nick adds: “For a boy, I’m torn between Albert and Arthur.

“Currently in 59th place in the boys’ chart, Albert was not strictly on my list of names to watch out for. But Albie, in 57th place, was.

“Sitting pretty in 19th place, Arthur is more popular than it’s been since the 1920s. It’s one of the middle names of Prince Charles, William and Louis. And Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, was QueenVictoria’s seventh child.

“Famously, of course, King Arthur is perhaps the most legendary and mythical British king ever.

“I really can’t decide, so don’t put more than £1 on it. No one’s ever found the Holy Grail by following my tips.”

I suspect they will go for a reasonably traditional one

Nick Stripe

Although many people associate Alice with the 1970s’ worldwide Smokie hit, Living Next Door To Alice, the name actually derives from the French name Alis, which in turn was a version of the Germanic name, Adalheidis.

It’s rough meaning is “of nobility” and “kind” in German and was popular in France in the 12th century.

Its popularity was further boosted with the publication of Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventures InWonderland in 1865.

Certainly, Harry and Meghan’s daughter would have a fairytale life, wanting for nothing in her Royal wonderland, so comparisons would inevitably be drawn by some between a Royal baby girl and the fictional character.

However, the couple is more likely to be persuaded on the name because of its Royal history.

Princess Alice of Battenberg, the Duke of Edinburgh’s mother, was born in the tapestry room of Windsor Castle, Berkshire, in 1885, in the presence of Queen Victoria, her great-granny.

Harry and Meghan were, of course, married at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19 last year.

And they first revealed that Meghan was pregnant at Windsor Castle last October at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank.

The fact that they now live at Frogmore Cottage in the grounds of the castle is another sign of their close attachment to the area.

It’s not yet known whether the Queen will confer the title Prince or Princess on the newborn, although Royal watchers expect that the honour will be given to the child as he or she will be seventh in line to the throne, one after Harry.

If the baby is a girl and called Alice, there will be hopes she’ll have an easier life than Prince Philip’s mother.

As A child, Princess Alice was diagnosed with congenital deafness and grew up in Britain, Germany and around the Mediterranean.

In 1903 she married Prince Andrew of Denmark and Greece and lived in Greece until the country’s Royal Family was exiled in 1917.

After the First World War, the Greek monarchy was reinstated and in 1920 Alice and her husband returned to Greece to live on the island of Corfu, where Prince Philip was born.

A soldier in the Greek army, Prince Andrew was accused of treason when Turkey invaded Greece in 1922. King George V came to the rescue by dispatching HMS Calypso to sail the couple, their four daughters and baby Philip, to France, where they relied on handouts to get by.

In 1930 Princess Alice suffered a nervous breakdown but recovered after treatment in Switzerland.

Following the diagnosis she lived separately from her husband, who moved to Monte Carlo.

She later returned to Greece and during the Second World War she was widely praised for helping Jewish people and opposing the Nazi occupation.

In 1967, after the fall of King Constantine II of Greece, she moved again to live at Buckingham Palace at the invitation of Prince Philip and the Queen.

She died there two years later, aged 84.

Bookmakers have recently made Diana the favourite for a girl’s name, with odds of 4/1, Victoria next at 9/1 and Alice third on 12/1. However, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, by choosing it as one of their daughter Charlotte’s middle names that may be unlikely.

Arthur and James were the 16/1 favourites for boys’ names, withAlbert placed fourth at 33/1. The meaning of Arthur is unknown but Celtic interpretations suggest that it could mean “bear king”. The most famous Arthur is the central character in Arthurian legend, a fabled 6th-century king who fought off Saxon invaders with his sword Excalibur and his knights of the round table.

As William and Kate have called their third child Prince Louis Arthur Charles, again, Harry and Meghan may choose another name to be different.

Nick Stripe says James has never dropped out of the top 20 of boys’ names throughout the past 100 years and predicts that whatever name the Duke and Duchess choose, there will be a surge in popularity. Nick added: “Neither Harry nor Henry (Prince Harry’s actual given name) were inside the top 100 when he was born in 1984.

“But Harry hit the top of the charts in 2011 and 2012 and remains in second place today. Henry, currently the 13th most popular baby boys’ name, is as popular as it has ever been. “When Prince George was born in 2013, his name was already the 10th most popular for boys.

“By 2016 it had risen to third place, where it remains. There are approximately 20 per cent more Georges being named today than there were before his birth.”

It’s a similar story for Princess Charlotte, who was born in 2015. At the turn of the millennium, her name was the fifth most popular girls’ name, but it had dropped down to 25th place by 2015. Charlotte had an immediate turnaround in fortunes, rising straight back up to 12th place in 2016 and 2017.

Now some 25 per cent more babies are given that name now than there were before her birth.

And Royal watchers expect the naming of Meghan and Harry’s baby will rocket it into the A Team of names, whatever letter it begins with.

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